Week 8 NFL Power Rankings

Another exciting Week 7, which means another complete upheaval in the Week 8 NFL Power Rankings. My Top 5 stayed pretty much the same, but wow did numbers 6 through 19 have a bunch of big changes. I don’t even know what to really say about this week, except a lot of the teams out there lack an identity. One week they win with ease and look like contenders, then the next week they play atrocious and look like a shell of their former selves. It’s so hard to really tell who is good this year and I’m sure the thoughts of who is will keep changing the next few weeks. NBC’s Flex scheduling should be very interesting as well, you may see a dud or two this year. Before we get in to the rankings, I want to ask one question. Who else is super excited about next week’s marquee game? Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants, wow that’s going to be a great early season matchup. Possible Super Bowl preview? Maybe? Ok, let’s get to these rankings that’s what you want.

The team I want to talk about this week is the New England Patriots. Forget the book A Tale of Two Cities, this team is pretty much A Tale of Two Weeks. Last week, the Patriots were completely embarrassed on Sunday night, and I mean TOTALLY embarrassed losing to the mediocre Chargers 30-10. The score didn’t even seem like it was that close. Now in tonight’s games (Monday) against the Denver Broncos they look like the Pats of old and completely dominate a pretty solid Broncos team, by the tune of 41-7. My question is Who are the Patriots? Are they a true playoff contender?

Last week they got blown out by the barely average Chargers, and then blow out a Broncos team who seemed like one of the best teams in the league after the first few weeks. The Pats had that look in them again tonight. Randy Moss on the sideline happy, smiling, joking around. Matt Cassel no longer looking like a inexperienced QB, actually I take that back he took way to many sacks when he could of dumped the ball away, but yet he was almost flawless chucking the ball around. To me it all started with the running game thou. The Patriots have changed their identity, and figured out with Brady they have to use the run to set up their passing attack. If they keep playing like they did today, they could become that playoff contender in the watered down AFC.

Solid rankings. But after watching the Broncos last night, I might be inclined to move them down a few spots. They are still winning the AFC West, but they just aren’t playing well and have one of the worst defenses in the NFL.